Cool Kids
by ConfessedGleek16
Summary: AU. Teenage Rizzles. A story on the struggle of a labelled nerd in high school. Jane is in search of a way out of the labyrinth, but the problem is she doesn't have an Ariadne. I suck at summaries. First Rizzles story.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: This story is just a normal coming of age story.

"No, Korsak, your right! No, your other right!" Jane yelled into her headset. She noticed a faint barking and automatically knew that the opposing team had called in their score streak. Dogs. It didn't help that she had gotten killed. Again.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Jane growled while pushing her black frames up her nose.

"Okay, what in the name of Asgard, honestly? What the hell, Frost?!" Jane has had enough. She backed out of game and waited for the boys rejoin her party.

"Hey don't blame me; Korsak should've had your back that time!" He exclaimed "I was scouting the back entrance."

"I flanked right like you said!" Korsak said quickly to defend his honor.

"Whatever," Jane said brushing them off, "you both suck at Black Ops anyway." Jane heard them both gasp through her headset.

"You take that back! And besides, we said to put in Ghosts anyway. Black Ops is old and only whiny 11 year olds play it." Frost said while adjusting the classes on some of his weapons.

"Yeah," Korsak started "plus, maybe your formations just suck. We kept getting ambushed!"  
They were double teaming her now. This is how it always happened whenever they got together to play video games. This was almost every day.

"Oh please, you two morons wouldn't know an AK-47 from a Honey badger if it shot you in the face." And it was partially true, these guys were poor with automatics, they were more of the quick scope type. Typical of boys, get in, get out.

"Whatev-" Jane started until she heard a shrill voice cut through her soul

"JANIE!"

"For the love of Odin, be right back guys" Jane groaned as she got up from her gaming position and headed down the stairs.

"What, Ma?"

"Oh Janie, what are you wearing! You are never going to find a good boy looking like that, all you do is play videogames and gush over superheroes. Maybe we can go dress shopping this weekend." Angela rushed while Jane huffed out a breath.

"Ma! One thing at a time, please? You're getting sidetracked. Plus, I like this shirt!" Jane told her while pouting, hoping to get her back on track. She looked down at her T-shirt. It was red and had a picture of iron man on the front. What was she talking about? This was her favorite Tee!  
"Oh right! Are you all ready for school tomorrow?" Jane rolled her eyes; it was like pulling teeth with this woman.

"Yeah, Just like I am every year. Anything else?" Angela shook her head so she turned and ran up the stairs as fast as she could back up to her room before her mom could think of something else.

"Hey Jane, I better go, first day of school tomorrow and all." He finished, Korsak agreeing with him.

"Alright, pick you guys up tomorrow at 7:30, yeah?"

"Yeah," Korsak chimed in this time, "sounds good, see you tomorrow, Janie." He said, knowing how much Jane hated that nickname.

"Don't call me that, Korsak!" He completely disregarded her request and logged out of his PSN account, Frost following after.

"Asshole." she muttered under breath.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane looked down at her outfit, a blue shirt with the superman logo, black skinny jeans, and red vans. She slipped on her glasses and nodded in approval and headed for the stairs. Jane glanced at the clock that was on the stove.

Great, gonna be late on the first day.

"Bye, Ma!" Jane rushed out as she headed for the door.

"Janie! Don't forget about your brother!"

"Aye Frankie! Let's go!" She shouted up the stairs.

"Stop yelling, Jane!" Angela reprimanded

"Hold ya horses, Jane! I'm comin'!" She heard his feet landing on the stairs, backpack in hand and they started heading for the front door.

"Don't you kids want breakfast?"

"No time, Ma. We'll just pick up something on the way. Ready, Frankie?"

"Yup" he answered, popping the 'p'

"Alright, bye for real this time!" Jane faintly heard a "have a nice day" from her mother. She hopped in her car and rode off.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

"You ready for this, little brother?" Jane inquired; freshman year could be a big transition, Hell, she was still transitioning.

"Yeah," he started a little nervously, "it's just another school day, how tough could it be, right?"

"You say that now, kid." Frost said chuckling while continuing, "Welcome to the next four years of your life!" They all began walking, Frankie, in search of his first hour class while the boys and Jane were entering a heated debate about who was better: Batman or Iron Man.

"C'mon Frost," Jane said, clearly exasperated, "Iron Man obviously wins, he's smarter, quicker, I will admit Batman has better villains but-"

"Ouch!"

"Dammit!" Jane and the other voice started at the same time, Jane began looking for her frames when she noticed the other girl struggling to get her books together

"Hey, let me help you with that..."

"Oh my, I am so sorry! I should have been looking where I was going!" The girl looked so worried

"It's cool; I was too busy fighting with these two morons, totally my fault." She gave a once over on the girl, she dressed like she was a model in New York Fashion Week. Jane looked back up to her eyes; they were a light Hazel, "so pretty." she thought.

Hey, Rizzoli, stop being such a creep and speak to her!

Jane cursed her inner monologue that she always seemed to get caught up in.

"Are you new?" Jane gave a small smile as she stood up noticing she had never seen the girl around before.

"Yes, I am new here. I was just headed to my AP Bio class but I can't seem to find it.." She trailed off while looking at her schedule again and around at the class numbers

"I have that first hour too, I can show you if you want." Jane looked back at Frost and Korsak and had been weirdly quiet during this whole thing. Probably because their eyes are glued to her chest, she rolled her eyes. Boys.

"Thank you so much! I would very much like that."

"Yeah? Cool, see you guys later, alright?" she said as she faced the boys, they nodded absently and walked away as if they had been brainwashed. Jane snorted, they probably have been. The new girl raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm Rizzoli by the way. I mean Jane. My last name is Jane. I mean Rizzoli. Uh, I'm Jane Rizzoli." Jane sputtered, rubbing the back of her neck.

_**Nice going, dumbass, now she's gonna think you're a total weirdo.**_

_I'm not a weirdo!_

_**Then stop acting like it!**_

"I am Maura Isles." She said, beaming at Jane.

"Maura," Jane rasped, letting the name roll off of her tongue, "Pretty."

"So, where are you from?" Jane asked as they headed down the hallway

"Well, I am originally from Boston, however I moved to France when I was 10." Maura said a little nervously, she was not quite sure on how American teenagers worked, were they all this nice?

"Wow! That's awesome," they were in class now, they both headed for the empty lab station in the middle of the class.

"Hey, Nerdzzoli! Where did you vacation this summer? Krypton?" Crowe laughed and his buddies joined in, Jane blushed and put her head down.

"That's not even funny.." Jane muttered under her breath, taking out her textbook and notebook.

"What does he mean by Nerdzzoli? That isn't a word, is it some sort of colloquialism?" Maura asked looking genuinely confused. It was obvious that Maura was not quite use to the public school system.

"It's nothing.."

Except it wasn't nothing at all. If Jane could live in the world of her favorite characters, she would. Her goal was not to bring them into this boring mundane world, but to travel to their extraordinary one. She could build with Tony Stark, be brave with Rogers, and be badass with Natasha Romanov. Her goal was to become extraordinary in an ordinary world, to live limitlessly in a world of boundaries. Her goal was to find her way out of this labyrinth, but even the best of the Greek heroes died in vain, until Ariadne came along.

"Alright class! Welcome to AP Bio!" Jane tried to focus solely on the teacher, hoping to get through the rest of class without any issues.

Jane started to take down notes, but that was all ill-fated when she glanced over at her lab partner who was concentrating so hard she could see the gears turning in her head.

_The adorableness has reached an all-time high with this one_

_**Really, Jane, really?**_

_What? There is never a wrong time to throw in Star Wars._

_**Except there is.**_

_Oh give me a break._

When she noticed that she was still staring, she saw Maura looking back at her with her brow quirked up.

"Oh! Sorry, I was just, uh, well-"she stammered while trying to keep her voice low. Maura merely giggled and smiled softly back before turning back to the teacher.

_Ugh, that laugh could end world hunger._

_**Maybe you should pay attention too.**_

_**Shut up.**_

"Alright guys," wait, had the teacher been talking this whole time? "I know it's only the first day, but I am going to make you aware that you have a major assignment coming up. You can pick any topic that you like, as long as it deals with biology, of course, and you have to research it. Every grueling detail. From start to current day. Details will be available later in the week. This is a partnered assignment, so you might want to begin thinking about who you want to be partnered up with as well." The teacher finished. First off, Jane stopped paying attention about half way through the class, second off, a partner?

_God, I hate partner assignments._

_**Oh, stop your whining.**_

_Okay, honestly?_

"Jane?" Jane looked over to Maura and noticed her staring back at her a little nervously. "Would you want to be my partner? I completely understand if you wouldn't I am only the new student, and you probably already have friends that you want to be partnered with and-"

"Yes! I am sure. Yeah, that's cool. Totally fine." Jane stumbled.

_**You really gotta work on that, dude.**_

_Yeah, I know, finally something we agree on._

_**I'm your subconscious, we always agree.**_

_You know what I mean._

"Really? Fantastic! I already have many topics in mind, perhaps Genomics, or the history of surgeries, or even when people began working on cadavers!" her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Jane could stare at those eyes forever.

"Jane?" Maura was looking at her with that small smile grin. Wait, am I supposed to be talking?

"No! I mean yes! Uh, yeah. We can discuss topics. Sounds good." Just as Jane finished her sentence the bell rang. She wondered if Maura knew where her next class was.

"I can help you find your next class if you want?" Jane asked a little anxiously.

"I would like that." Maura beamed up at her as she handed Jane her schedule.

"AP World History, I have that, but not this hour. I'll show you." Jane handed her back her schedule and began to walk her out of the class, the history hallway wasn't far from the science hallway. When they got to the door Jane turned to her and rubbed the back of her neck.

"We both have the first lunch period after this; do you want to sit with me and the guys?" Jane queried.

"Of course, thank you for being so kind to me." Maura finished, she had no idea that on her first day someone would show just kindness towards her, it was never like that in her previous schools.

"Not a problem, I'll see you at lunch." Maura smiled in response and turned around and headed into her classroom.

_**That's rough.**_

_What?_

_**You got it bad, dude.**_

Jane groaned.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane headed to the lunch room and began surveying the large room for her friends. It was like a zoo in there, haphazard yet concealed with every group of kids in their respective cages. Jane swore she could almost hear the sounds of the jungle when she entered; she made sure to keep an eye out for any overly large felines. As she was walking past a table with the popular boys, leaded by none other than Crowe, she began to walk a little faster. She noticed Maura was already seated with Frost and Korsak at a table ahead. Maura smiled and waved her over.

"Hey, Rizzoli!" a voice shouted behind her. She turned around just in time for an unpleasant surprise. All of a sudden she felt sticky all over, she couldn't even see through her glasses. One thing Jane could notice though was the laughter that invaded her ears. She immediately turned on her heel and ran straight out of the cafeteria doors as best as she could with her dirty frames. As soon as she got out of there she took her glasses off and began to wipe them on her shirt. She could feel a familiar stinging behind her eyes.

_Not here._

She walked out to the student parking lot without bothering to check out from the school's front desk and drove home as fast as she could.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Close to tears, Jane started pacing angrily around her bedroom. She didn't understand, why did people treat her this way? Was it simply because she was different, or maybe because she was smart? She glanced at the Spiderman poster on her wall searching for answers.

_How did you do it, Peter?_

_**Oh stop talking to that stupid poster, Jane.**_

Puffing out a breath heatedly, Jane went the corner of her room to the keyboard that was set up against the wall. She didn't think, started just playing soft chords and began singing softly the first song that came to mind.

She sees them walking in a straight line, that's not really her style,

And they all got the same heartbeat, but hers is falling behind.

Nothing in this world could ever bring them down.

Yeah, they're invincible, and she's just in the background.

Jane felt hot tears rushing down her face, but her voice was getting stronger with each line, as were her hands as they pattered softly against the piano keys.

And she says,

I wish that I could be like the cool kids,

'Cuz all the cool kids, they seem to fit in,

I wish that I could be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.

She finished the verse softly and let the quiet sobs come out. Jane just wanted to know why. Why things had to be the way they were. And why she can't be like Peter Parker.

"Jane?"


	2. Chapter 2

_"Jane?"_

* * *

Jane looked back at her door and was not expected the person at her door. At all.

"Maura? What are- I mean not that I don't, uh-" Jane swallowed the lump in her throat, wiped her face of tears and took a deep breath. "What are you doing here?" She finally managed to get out.

_Am I dreaming? Did I fall asleep?__  
__**  
**__**You did get dropped on your head at birth.**__**  
**__  
__Now is not the time!__  
_  
"I'm sorry, it's just, I saw what happened in the cafeteria. I know I barely even know you but I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She moved towards Jane, sitting on the edge of the bed across from her. She seemed just as nervous. Jane was embarrassed. She always tried her hardest to not let anyone see her cry. Or that she had been crying. What is happening?

"That's, uh, nice. Thank you. But, who let you in? Sorry not to be rude it's just-" she faltered.

_**You gotta stop with that.**_

_I'm shutting you off.__  
_  
"Your mother, actually. It's after school. Barold and Vince told me where you lived. I'm sorry I should not have assumed that you would want me over. I can go-" she said shifting slightly on the bed.

"No! Stay! It's totally fine. I must've fallen asleep. It's fine. It's cool. I'm cool. Are you cool?" Jane rushed out.

_**Damn, dude.**_

_Didn't I shut you off?!_

_**I'm you. You can't just shut me off. Aren't you supposed to be smart?**_

Jane scowled deeply.

_God, I can be so annoying._

Jane looked over at the sound of Maura laughing; she brought her hand up to her mouth while she giggled uncontrollably. It was obviously contagious as Jane began laughing too.

"What're we-," she said pausing to take a breath, "laughing at?" She managed to push out.

"I don't remember exactly. You?" She said still smiling. God, that smile.

"Me?"

"Yes. You. You are thoroughly amusing. Not in a bad way! You're funny, I mean. It's your facial expressions."

"I get it. Thanks for doing this by the way. I needed the laugh." Jane was grateful. Sure she had the boys, but they were just that; boys. She tried to be tough around them. She realized that around Maura maybe she didn't have to try to be tough. Maybe she could just be.

"You are welcome. Laughter has been proven to be an exceptional stress relief. Laughter releases endorphins throughout your body. There have also been studies that conclude that it heightens your pain threshold by ten percent." Her smile fell a little, "I'm boring you aren't I?"

"No, not at all! It's actually amazing, you know, that you stuff like that." Jane said smiling softly. Maura could hear the sincerity in her voice. Maura smiled brightly back at Jane and focused at the keyboard Jane was seated at.

"You play the piano?" She asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I taught myself some years ago." Jane answered.

"So, about our bio project. You're here now, maybe we can brainstorm ideas? I really liked the topic of cadavers."  
As soon as Jane finished the sentence she could see the light building behind her eyes. This is what Jane enjoyed about people. It was the kind of people who are unapologetically and wildly passionate about something. That moment when you could basically see it as it takes them over. It was beautiful to witness and she wished more people would be like that.

"Oh yes! I was partial to the cadavers myself, so that would be a wonderful thing to research!" Maura finished excitedly.

"Well, let's do that then." Jane said quickly to appease the girl. She watched Maura as she gazed at her room for the first time since she arrived.

"Wow," she breathed "you really enjoy superheroes and video games, don't you?" She asked, she walked over to Jane's comic book collection. She looked over at her.

"May I?" Jane nodded and watched her as she flicked through the books that were covered in plastic.

"You know," she started gaining Jane's attention. "I am partial to DC myself." Jane gasped, feeling as though she had been shot right through the chest.

"No?! How could you say that? Marvel has a MUCH better shared universe than DC will ever have! Even in TV shows they incorporate them so well into the movies!" Jane was very confused at this point. She liked DC a lot, but saying that it was better than Marvel? No.

"Well for one," and Maura launched right into it.

They went back and forth like this for a while. Jane felt good, she hadn't thought about what happened earlier that day since Maura walked through her bedroom door.

"I should probably go home." Maura said looking over at the alarm clock on Jan's nightstand.

"Right. Yeah. Did you drive here? Want me to walk you to your car?" Jane asked standing. Maura nodded and stood up as well. They walked down the stairs and out the front door and Jane's jaw immediately dropped.

"Jesus. This yours?" Jane asked; it was a black Tesla Model 6 Maura smiled softly back.

"Yes. My parents bought it for me as a sixteenth birthday present. It is incredibly fuel efficient with a 60 kW-hr battery pack." Maura said while still standing by Jane. Jane shook her head smiling and walked over to the driver's side door opening it waiting for her to get in.

"Thank you."

"No problem, see you tomorrow?"

"Bright and early. Goodnight, Jane." Maura smiled once more before pulling out of the driveway and driving home. Jane walked back to the front door just to see her mother waiting for her at the front door.

"So, who's your new friend?"

Jane groaned.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane was in her room playing on her piano when her mother called her and her brother down. She walked out of her room the same time Frankie came out of his and they walked down the stairs into the kitchen where her father was already seated reading a newspaper.

"Hey, Pop." Frankie greeted as he took a seat to the left of his father, Jane sitting next to him. He nodded back without taking his eyes off of the sports page.

"Where's, Tommy?" Jane asked while her mom set the last dish of food on the table. Her mother always went all out no matter what. Typical Italians.

"He's over a friend's house studying." Angela said as she took a seat at the table. Jane rolled her eyes ate her youngest brother. It's the first day of school, studying for what?

"So, Jane, you made a new friend today I gather?" her mother asked while pretending nonchalant as she forked some of her pasta in her mouth.

"Maura? Yeah, I mean she's pretty cool. She's new. She's from France." Jane said as she kept her attention focused on the food on the plate in front of her.

"France? How nice! I've always wanted to go to France." Her mother finished wistfully. That was when her Father put down the paper next to him and decided to join in on family conversation.

"Oh yeah? Since when?" her father probed.

"Since always." Angela huffed.

"Yeah, well, don't hold your breath. Hey Frankie, you're doing baseball, right?"

"Yeah, I am." he said excitedly. Frankie always loved playing baseball and the entire family, sans Angela, enjoyed it a lot too.

"When are tryouts? We gotta work on that curve ball son, don't wanna have you pitching like a wuss like you usually do." Their father said nonchalantly. Jane had half a mind to give him the other half. She clenched her jaw and picked her fork up and continued eating while Frankie replied to Frank Sr.

"Sure. We can work on it. I guess I did need the practice anyway." Frankie softly replied.

"You throw just fine." Jane mumbled under her breath throwing a glance at her brother, who shot a worried look back. He leaned over a little and touched her shoulder with his and shook his head slightly. Jane let out a small sigh and scooted her chair away from the table.

"May I be excused?" Jane asked as she was standing up. Her father grunted in response picking his newspaper back up. Jane bounded up the stairs and closed her door softly behind her after she entered her room. She looked around her room for something to occupy her time. She let out a grunt of frustration.

_God, this sucks._

Jane looked over at her nightstand when she heard her phone vibrate with a new message.

**Frost: Call of Duty?**

Jane quickly texted him a confirmation and grabbed her controller and remote, hitting the power button on both and reached over to her nightstand to grab her headset. She logged onto her account and put in COD: Ghosts joined Frost's party, noticing that Korsak was already in.

"Hey, guys." Jane spoke and adjusted the volume in the side of the headset.

"Jane." Frost and Korsak answered simply and waited for her to elaborate. Probably wanted to know how she was doing and just used Ghosts as an excuse.

"You gave Maura my address?" she asked, trying to put off the conversation she wanted to avoid.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. It's just, she can be extremely persuasive." Frost rushed out. Jane snorted.

"Scared of a girl?" she tossed at him. She heard Korsak start laughing and Frost take in a sharp gasp.

"Never! She might be tiny but she just does this thing with her eyebrow and her eyes!." Jane and Korsak laughed harder and her grunted in response.

"Whatever, let's play Extinction." Jane groaned. She hated this gameplay.

"Honestly, why take out Zombies and replace them with aliens? Who does that?" She complained as the game started. Plus, it was just plain boring.

"Zombies are in the past, Jane. Come to the dark side, we have Aliens." Korsak said as he dropped his voice lower.

They played for about another hour before Korsak said that he had to go, leaving only Frost and Jane.

"Talk to me, Jane. What happened?" Frost asked, his voice dripping in concern. Jane exhaled.

_Be strong._

"Nothing, it was just an accident." Lie #1 "I went home early to clean up, that's all."

"Then why did Maura have me tell her where you lived? Also, when did that happen? She seemed like she had been your friend for years with how worried she was."

"I don't know." Lie #2 "She's not used to it here, you know? I like her. We're friends."

"Yeah, she is pretty cool. Kinda weird."

"This is coming from you, Frost. Look in the mirror." She cringed as soon as the words came out, harsher than she had intended.

"Alright, I get it. I'm sorry. I should probably go. You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah." Lie #3 "You can go. I'm fine." Jane swallowed thickly. She wanted this conversation to end already.

_Be strong._

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Jane gave a quick okay and logged off of her account and shut everything down, turned to bury her face in her pillow and let sleep overtake her.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

A week had gone by since the incident in the cafeteria and Jane tried to lay as low as she could.

Jane up earlier that morning trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was greeted by her little brother, Tommy, who was just barely staying awake in front of his bowl of Lucky Charms.

"Hey, Tommy. Didn't catch you last night." He opened his eyes a little wider to look at Jane as she sat at the table with her own cereal.

"Studying." He grunted.

"What is there to study on the first day of school, Tommy?" Jane lifted an eyebrow in question.

"It's too early for a lecture, alright? I was studying." Tommy got up from the table and grabbed his backpack and headed out the door to his own school.

_Kid is only 12 and in the seventh grade, what's there to do in the seventh grade?_

_**I can think of lots of things.**_

_Too bad nobody asked you._

_**Technically you did ask. **_

Jane groaned and called Frankie down saying that it was time to go, and they both headed out of the door and to school.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane was still continuing her daily debate with Korsak and Frost as they walked through the student parking lot and into the school. In light, of last night's game it was centered around Zombies vs. Aliens.

"All's I'm saying is that if I hear someone shout 'Alien!' I'm gonna look around foor a tiny brown guy named ET. Not scary at all. Zombies eat people. That's pretty boss. Also, the walking dead, need I say more?" Jane argued as they walked down the hallway.

"She's gotta point Frost, The Walking Dead pretty much blows everything out of the water. Zombies are better." Frost just rolled his eyes and tossed a 'whatever' over his shoulder as he walked to his first hour class.

Korsak waved bye and took off in the same direction. Jane walked a couple of steps into her class and pushed up her glasses as she took her usual seat next to Maura in her AP Bio class. Maura already had her notes and books open and glanced over at Jane when she sat down.

"Good morning." that was enough to make a wide grin spread onto Jane's face.

"Morning." Maura turned to Jane and quirked an eyebrow noticing that Jane was staring. "Your eyes are pretty. What color are they?" Jane asked with a lazy grin on her face.

"I would say hazel, but that term varies from person to person. There are studies that state that hazel eyes come from a larger amount of melanin, however, it is not conclusive research. I'm rambling, aren't I?" Maura smiled and checked the front of the room to make sure the teacher hadn't begun lecturing. They still had time before the bell signaling the beginning of classes rang.

"No more than usual, it's fine though. It's a cool thing about you." Jane said while getting out her materials as the teacher came in and wrote the agenda on the board.

"You think I'm cool?"

"I mean, of course I do. I like how much you like what you like, you know? I mean, wait what? That was worded funny." Jane tried to backtrack and restructure the sentence in her mind to at least exude a hint of literacy. She caught blush on Maura's face before she turned back around to pay attention to the teacher.

Jane did her best to take down notes. They were touching on the topic of Human Anatomy in order to go more in depth about cells. Jane began to get more in the groove as the class period went on and began to furiously scribble down and highlight her notes. She may get distracted sometimes, but she was a good student. After the teacher wrapped up the lesson he reminded the class of their project and that it was due in two weeks.

"Do you want to work on our project after school today?" Maura questioned as she began to put her materials away.

"Yeah, sounds good." Jane agreed and followed suite. They walked out of there class and down the hallway. It had become routine for Jane to walk Maura to her classes. Maura turned aroun before she headed in and pulled out her phone.

"Here, put your number in, we can work on it at my house tonight. If that's good for you?" Jane nodded so quickly she thought her head might fall off.

"Yeah mhm! Perfectly fine. Always fine. So fine. I mean, just- yeah okay. I'll text you so you have my number too, okay?" Maura nodded and waved goodbye and walked into her class. Jane sighed and leaned up against the wall.

_I'm on cloud motherfucking 9._

_**Well bring yourself down to 8 because it's time for U.S. Government. **_

The warning bell rang signaling she had 30 seconds to get to class.


	3. Chapter 3

Jane was in a bad mood as she left US Government. The system was already fucked; she didn't want to learn about how the fuckery started. She was grumbling until she realized she had her Music class next. She walked down the stairs to the first floor and to the piano lab. She set her bag down in front of a keyboard, turned it on and began doing small warm ups. It was a free study type of class with performance based grading. So she basically got to work on whatever she wanted.

She was working in her own rendition of 'Lost' by Frank Ocean. Her main goal was to take the original track and to turn it into a piano score, she hadn't even noticed she was humming along, and then full out singing.

_Now you're lost_

_Lost in the heat of it all_

_Girl you know you're lost_

_Lost in the thrill of it all_

_Miami, Amsterdam_

_Tokyo, Spain, lost_

_Los Angeles, India_

_Lost on a train, lost_

Jane got lost. She got lost in between the bar lines and melodies. She lost herself in the ocean of sound and she had no intent of leaving. Her fingers danced around the piano keys as she played the song as the words flowed. It was almost as if the notes were weaving in and out of each other, they were bending and curling around each other like a game for two. She hadn't even realized her phone was vibrating or that her class hour had ended. When she glanced at the text message her phone received she immediately smiled.

**Maura: Lunch?**

Jane was already lost.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane made it to the lunch room with 10 minutes left in the hour. She quickly found her friends and settled down with her. Maura looked over at her and smiled while Frost frowned.

"Where have you been?"

"Piano lab. I was working on a project." She said as she went to steal one of Korsak's fries. He swatted her hand away after she already took a few. She swallowed one and stuck her tongue out at him. Korsak glowered at her.

"You're always somewhere playing the piano, Jane. I bet you even have an app for it." Jane threw a fry at his head and it fell to the ground and smirked when he realized he had none to throw back. Frost just laughed at the two and shook his head. Frost and Korsak then began talking about new movies that were coming out, completely leaving the girls out of the conversation.

"You'll have to play for me sometime, Jane." Maura whispered as she leaned over.

"Any time, Maura. Any time." Jane promised. The lunch bell rang after that and Maura walked Maura to her class and turned around to see Frost right behind with an eyebrow raised. Jane rolled her eyes. She didn't have time for this. She didn't know why he seemed to like Maura, but seemed not to like her at the same time. It was confusing and frankly Jane thought he needed to get over himself.

"What's going on with you two?" He probed. Jane rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Jane demanded a little defensively as they began walking down the hallway to their respective classes.

"I'm just asking. You two have been spending a lot of time together. You seem close." He stated, making it sound as if he was asking a question.

"She's cool, Frost, okay? I like her, she's my friend. She's our friend." Jane ran her fingers through her hair and huffed out a breath, a little agitated with her friend. She stopped at the part of the hallway where they split their ways and turned around to face him.

"Yeah, I know she is. I know. It's just- you know you can talk to me, right? You can talk to Korsak too. Okay?" He inquired and Jane just slowly nodded her head up and down, not entirely sure where this was coming from.

"Yeah. Yeah I know." Lie #5 "I'll see you later, yeah?" Frost smiled slightly and nodded as her turned around and headed to his class. Jane exhaled loudly shook her head a little.

_What's his problem?_

_**Uh, hello, if it wasn't obvious, his obvious problem is you.**_

_You know what I mean._

_**This is true.**_

Jane just shook her head at herself and walked into her classroom.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane headed over to Maura's house in Beacon Hill at about 4pm. She looked up from the address Maura texted her and back up to the house she was parked in front of.

No. Not a house. This place was a freaking mansion. Jane tentatively exited her car and walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell.

"Yes?" It was a woman standing in front of Jane. She really began to think she might have the wrong house. The woman was in cleaning clothes and Jane

"Esme, if someone comes to the door send her up to my room please!" Jane glanced into the doorway when she heard Maura shout from somewhere from inside. The woman chuckled while stepping aside to let Jane the mansion.

"Sorry about that. I'm Esmeralda, but you can call me Esme. I'm the maid." She said while walking Jane to the staircase.

"Pretty name. I'm Jane." She smiled at her.

"Well, Jane, I think Maura is expecting your company. Her room is on the left side of the house."

"Thanks Esme, it was nice meeting you!" Esme smiled and muttered a "likewise" and turned back and disappeared through the house. Jane walked up the grand staircase and walked turned left as she reached the top of the staircase.

Jane entered Maura's room and she was sitting in the middle of her bed on her laptop. Jane took a moment to look around her room. It was clean, obviously, and posters covered the walls. One wall was covered by portraits of DNA and Chromosomes. They were in all different types of designs, black & white, watercolor, blood red, they were surely something else. Then again, so was Maura. Jane moved further into the room to greet Maura when she almost tripped on something moving on the ground.

"What the HELL is that?!" she shouted hopping away from the predator.

_**Way to make yourself seem like a total creeper, Rizzoli.**_

_I didn't mean to! It's just, that..thing is HUGE._

"Jane! I didn't notice that you had come in. Have you met Esme?"

"Uh, yeah I met Esme. But what I haven't met is that moving coffee table that looks like it would swallow me whole." Jane said slowly inching towards Maura and away from the predator.

"Oh Jane, don't be silly. Bass is an herbivore. And he is not a coffee table!" Maura said bumping Jane's shoulder with her own and laughing softly.

"Bass? What, you named your..thing.. After a fish?"

"He's an African spurred tortoise, Jane. And he was named after the founder of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville."

"Right. Of course. Well, I mean, cool turtle."

"Tortoise." Maura huffed and Jane smirked back.

"Right." Jane said while she plopped down on Maura's bed. Maura sat down on a chair across from Jane.

"So! Where do we start?" Maura said taking her own laptop of her backpack that she had forgotten she had on.

"Well I thought we could start on either side. One of us at the beginning and the other at present day. We can work ourselves to the middle."

"Sounds good." And they launched right into it. Every now and again they would check in with each other, or tell the other something really cool they had found. Maura more so than Jane. Jane started watching autopsies on YouTube.

"Mauraaaaa." Maura shushed her and Jane huffed and pouted. Maura turned to her and quirked an eyebrow, a smile playing on her lips.

"Are you pouting?" She asked letting a giggle slip through.

"Yes. Yes I am." Jane said letting her pout slip deeper. "Maura my brain is tired. It needs juice. Fun juice. Okay wait that sounds wrong..."

"We can take a break, Jane." Maura giggled as Jane did a fist pump in the air and quickly exited her current windows and clicked on another window. Netflix.

"Great because we are gonna watch Netflix. And I know just what." Jane muttered as we began clicking away on the site.

"Orange is the New Black? What is that?" Maura said as she laid down next to Jane who gasped in mock horror.

"Uh, only the best show ever! You'll love it. Guaranteed." Jane said as she pressed play.

"Well that escalated quickly." Maura said as the first scene played. Jane guffawed. She laid back on Maura's pillows and Maura followed her and while Jane put the laptop between the two. They watched around 4 or 5 episodes and Jane looked over expectantly at Maura after the last episode they watched was finished.

"State your ship. And don't you dare say Larry and Piper. That's like saying you ship Natasha Romanov and Captain America over Natasha and Hawkeye."

"I'm just confused..did Alex really turn in Piper?"

"Well..yeah. But she loves her!"

"Jane, you can't just do something like that and then think it's okay 'because I love you'. That's a poor excuse." Jane was about to refute when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She took out her phone and rolled her eyes upon seeing a message from her mom.

**Ma: home?**

Jane groaned and put her phone back in her pocket. She had completely lost track of time.

"My mom wants me home. I better go. Same time tomorrow?" Jane asked while gathering her things together.

"Tomorrow is good. I'll walk you to your car. "Jane blushed and muttered a 'thank you' and followed Maura through the house. Maura walked Jane to her car. Maura looked up to Jane and smiled.

"I had fun. This was fun."

"It was. I'm glad we did it. No like that! I mean. You know. Work. And stuff. Alright I gotta go. See you tomorrow!" Jane blabbered and hopped into her car. Maura just laughed and shook her head softly from side to side.

"See you at school, Jane." Maura stated. Jane smiled timidly and waved at Maura while she left the driveway. Jane groaned loudly in her car as she headed down the road.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

_**Yeah, stupid.**_

_Shut up!_

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane stepped through her front door at around 11 o'clock and she knew her mmom would hear her as soon as she stepped through that front door. Soon enough you hear "Jane!" piercing through the house.

_Great. Just great._

_**Wow, you kind of suck.**_

_Wow, no one kind of asked you._

_**Must we really go through this again? Let me say if slowly now. I. Am. You.**_

Jane just rolled her eyes and made her way through the house until she saw her mother reading a book on the living room couch. She wouldn't be surprised if she saw Fabio on the front cover.

"Why were you out so late?"  
"Sorry, Ma. I kind of lost track of time when I was working with Maura."

"Oh, Maura?" Jane rolled her eyes at how her mom got excited over her new friend.

_She's probably hoping she can finally have a girl around the house._

_**Yeah, we all know you failed in that department.**_

_You know what-_

"Jane!" Angela shouted.

"Oh yeah, what? I'm sorry. Uh wait what?" Jane stammered.

Angela just groaned and shook her head.

"Where do you go in that mind of yours, Janie hm? Anyways, I was asking when are you gonna bring Maura around? I would love to meet her. I'm sure your Pop would too. It'll be nice for you to have a girl friend" Angela smiled.

_Little does she know._

"We'll see, Ma. I'm gonna go to bed now, okay? Night." She stood up and kissed her mom on the cheek. Her mom smiled and murmured an 'I love you' while she headed up the stairs and into her room. She plopped into bed, and drifted off to sleep.

_**You forgot about your glasses, dork.**_

Jane rolled her eyes and took off her glasses, and then finally drifted to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

They finished their project about a week and a half ago, and now it was just routine for Jane to come over after school and do her homework. Jane had finished and was lying on Maura's bed supine and humming with her eyes closed.

"My Ma wants to meet you." Maura looks up from her laptop to Jane and closes it slightly. Jane continues to hum softly, eyes still closed, and Maura's gaze softens and she smiles.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean, you totally don't have to if you don't wanna it's just, she's really excited about me having a friend of the same gender. Thinks it'll turn me into a lady." Jane scoffs and runs her fingers through her hair as she sits up and faces Maura.

"Well, I for one would not mind meeting your parents. In fact, I would love to."

"Yeah?" She nods and Jane smiles softly back at her.

"I want to show you something." Maura stands up and smooths out her dress before offering Jane her hand. She takes it and allows herself to be led throughout the house.

They walk down the stairs from the second floor and to the first and Maura rounds a corner to a door that leads to a basement.

"You're not gonna like, skin me down here are you? Or force me to be a mother figure as you chain me to a bed, right?" She looks back at you with both eyebrows raised and cocks her head to the right.

"No. No I would say that is not in the agenda."

"That totally went right over your head didn't it? It totally did. That's it, American Horror Story is next on our list of shows to watch." Jane says and follows Maura down the stairs as she chuckles.

Jane swears she has never seen a cooler basement. On one side a very large room with the biggest tv you've ever seen. Complete with a popcorn maker and everything. Towards the back you see a pool table and a bar. It looks like a certified man cave. However, that's not where Maura was leading Jane. They kept walking and turned a corner and came to a door. Maura opened it and Jane nearly cried tears of joy.

It was a music room. There were guitars on the walls and saxophones and a drum kit sitting pretty in the corner. But what really caught Jane's eye was the beautiful black, sleek grand piano sitting in the middle of the room.

"Maura," Jane breathes out "this is beautiful." Maura smiles and takes your hand and leads Jane to the piano and sits on the bench. She pats the spot next to her and Jane tentatively sits down, afraid shell wreck something.

"Play for me? Please?" She asks softly and Jane looks at her like she's gone absolutely mad.

"Play? On this? Yeah no, this piano is worth more than my life. I'll just sit here and look at it."

"Please?" Maura asks again and Jane sighs and carefully runs her fingers across the keys.

"Anything for you, right?" she rasped. Maura beams back at her and Jane thinks of a song to play. She begins to play the opening notes of a song.

_You lift my heart up when the rest of me is down_

Jane looks over at Maura before turning her focus back on the song.

_You, you enchant me even when you're not around  
If there are boundaries, I will try to knock them down  
I'm latching on, babe, now I know what I have found_

She feels Maura's hand slip onto her knee and run comforting circles there as she plays. Jane glances at Maura who nods at her smiling. She smiles back as she sings the hook.

_I feel we're close enough  
Could I lock in your love?  
I feel we're close enough  
Could I lock in your love?  
_  
Maura removes her hand from Jane's knee and carefully slides closer to Jane, trying not to disrupt the playing, and puts her arm around her waist and lays her head on her shoulder and closes her eyes while listening to Jane continue to sing and play softly.

_Now I've got you in my space  
I won't let go of you  
Got you shackled in my embrace  
I'm latching on to you_

Jane leans her head over slightly to rest on top of Maura's. She stops singing and opts to just play out the rest of the song, fingers dancing across the keys expertly. Eventually the song tapers off to an end and Maura whispers softly, as if trying not to disturb the scene.

"That was beautiful, Jane." She breathes into the crook of Jane's neck. Jane shivers and swallows.

"Thank you." Jane whispered. Maura lifted her head just enough to look Jane in the eye, her own eyes shining with happiness an sincerity.

"No, thank you." She kissed Jane on the cheek and laid her head back down on her shoulder and in that moment Jane could have sworn up and down to God above that she had died and gone to heaven.

"Maura, darling?" A voice came from the door of the music room. Maura's head lolled over to face the door and upon seeing who was standing in the doorway she gently lifted her head from off of Jane's should but kept her arm in place.

"Mother?" Maura asked in bewilderment. Jane had always wondered about Maura's parent but didn't want to pry. She figured with how Maura lived her parents were probably off on business trips or something or another. But to leave your daughter for that long?

"Mother." Maura stated again and let a small smile escape as she stood up and walked over to her.

"Hello, darling." She stated in her elegant English accent. Maura looked back towards the piano and noticed Jane still sitting there. Maura tilted her head a little calling Jane over. Jane stood up and walked over and shuffled nervously while pushing her glasses back up her face. She stool her hand out for Maura's mother to shake.

"Jane. I'm Jane. Uh, Maura's friend. Meet you is nice. I mean uh pleased to meet you. Yeah." She said retracting her hand and fixing her glasses.

"Oh darling, where did you find this one? She is absolutely adorable. The pleasure is mine, Jane. I am Constance Isles, Maura's mother, although you probably already gathered that."

Jane swallowed and nodded slowly and Maura registered Jane's nervousness.

"Is Daddy here?" Maura questioned and Constance nodded and smiled.

"Yes, he is upstairs settling himself. The chef is nearly done cooking dinner." Constance smiled and turned around to walk out of the door. She chuckled softly.

_That Jane girl is so enamored. _

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

"You don't have to stay." Maura said while she and Jane were laying on her bed watching some movie on Netlfix.

"No. I mean I could uh, go if you wanted me to. But I don't mind." Maura smiled back at her and shook her head.

"Stay. I want you to meet my parents."

"Then I'll stay." Jane's phone buzzed with a new text message.

**Frost: Friday. Movies?**

**Jane: Sounds good. X-Men?**

**Frost: Duh. What else?**

Jane rolled her eyes and put her phone back in her pocket.

"Wanna go to the movies on Friday?"

"I'd love to. What are we seeing?" Maura asked.

"The new X-Men movie. It's completely slaying the box office right now, right alongside Maleficent."

"Just us?" Maura asked looked up from the computer screen in front of her.

"Nah, the boys are coming too."

"Oh. Alright then, sounds good." Jane was about to open her mouth to speak when someone knocked softly on Maura's bedroom door. Maura muttered a quick "come in" and someone that Jane hadn't seen popped their head into the door stating that it was time for dinner. Maura nodded as he left.

"Who's that guy?"

"The chef, he's on call. He comes around more often when my parents are home." Maura said while standing. Jane rolled over to stand up but ended up rolling too far.

"Oomf!" Jane rolled over onto her stomach and rubbed the back of her head.

"Oh my God, Jane! Are you okay?" Maura said while looking into each eye and surveying her head for any bruising. Jane let her feel around on her face and grumbled.

"I'm fine." Jane grumbled out.

_**Your ego isn't.**_

"Good," Maura started before letting a slow smile slip onto her face. "because that was pretty funny." She said and started to full out laugh while helping Jane up,

"Oh ha ha, laugh it up, Isles." Jane said letting her own smile creep up on her face while she pushed up her glasses.

"Oh, I will." Jane smiled and bumped her shoulder with hers as they walked through the halls. They were still smiling as they entered the dining room.

"Girls, nice of you to join us." A deep voice stated from the other end of the table. Maura looked up and smiled before walking over to hug the man.

"Daddy, I missed you." She said and stood up straight. "This is my friend, Jane. Jane, this is my father, Desmond Isles." Jane smiled and walked over with a small smile on her face.

"Mr. Isles, Nice to meet you." Jane said softly.

"The pleasure is mine. Sit down girls; I'm starving, so you two must be as well."

They all sat down. Jane took a place across from Maura and sat down. The chef already placed the food on the respective places. The food was delicious, although Jane had absolutely no idea what she was eating.

_I can feel it. I can feel it coming._

_**Feel what, exactly?**_

"So Jane, tell me about you."

_Ah, there it is. The third degree._

"Uh, I mean-there isn't a lot to tell," Jane began to nervously bounce her leg. She felt something touch her leg and looked up and saw Maura look back. Maura smiled encouragingly and nodded. Jane inhaled deeply and silently said: "I like your run of the mill nerd stuff I guess. Comics, video games, stuff like that. I like music too." She finished while nervously rubbing the back of her neck. This time Constance spoke up.

"That would explain the music room. How long having you been playing?" Constance said placing her silverware neatly on the table and giving her full attention to Jane.

"Some years. I taught myself a while ago and now I take classes at the school. It helps."

"Have you ever thought about taking it farther? Maybe going to school for Music?" Desmond questioned.

"Well, uh, I don't know if I'm good enough for that." Jane said quietly and she heard Maura gasp from across her.

"That's simply not true, Jane. You play beautifully. You sing phenomenally as well. Don't be so modest." Maura chastised and Jane smiled.

"Thanks, Maur." Maura just smiled back and Constance looked between the two and then looked to her husband with her eyes brows raised, having a small conversation without words. He just smiled softly and shook his head slightly, Jane and Maura completely missing the entire exchange.

"Well, Jane. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you. I think Constance and I are going to retire for the evening." Constance smiled at Jane and touched Maura on the shoulder before heading up the stairs, and Desmond hung back to speak with Jane. He put a hand on her shoulder and Jane automatically assumed the worst.

_Oh God, he hates me. He's going to say I can never see Maura again. _

_**Chill out, dude. You're making us more nervous than we have to be.**_

_Us? What happened to the whole we are the same person?_

"Feel free to come by any time, Jane. We'll definitely have a Jam session." He said and smiled at her walked up the stairs after his wife.

_Everything's chill, he totally likes me. Life is good._

Well life was good until she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

**Ma: where r u?**

**Jane: On my way.**

Jane completely forgot to tell her mom she was going to be late. Again.

"Jane?" Maura questioned as she got up to sit next to Jane. "I hope that wasn't too horrible. If it' any consolation, my parents definitely like you." Maura said beaming.

"Think so?" Jane asked softly, a small smile playing on her lips, secretly elated at the idea of Maura's parents accepting her.

"I know so." Maura said and placed her hand on Jane's forearm that was folded in her lap.

"My mom wants me home." Jane pouted and Maura shook her head smiling at Jane's pout and stood up and began walking Jane out to her car. When they were in the driveway Maura stood on the tips of her toes and kissed Jane on the cheek.

"I, uh, bye Maura. See you tomorrow, yeah?" Jane fumbled out and Maura smiled at Jane and nodded while walking backwards to her front door. Jane got in her car and drove off, doing a fist pump to the air.

_Life is good._

_**Yeah, wait until you get home. **_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Now that my senior obligations are over.. back to writing.

* * *

Jane pulled up into her driveway and tried her hardest to sneak up into her home without being detected. she was debating on if she should just sleep in the car, it would be better than the mouthful she was bound to endure with her mother. She thought she could take a breath when she hadn't seen her mother waiting for her. That is, until she saw her Father instead. This could only mean one thing, trouble. At this point, Jane would rather it be her Mom's nagging voice telling her that she has to be more time conscious and responsible, she would take it in stride. No, her Father was a lot worse.

"Jane." He said simply and ruggedly.

"Pop? Where's Ma?" It wasn't often that Jane's father was the one waiting up for her, he left the worrying for her mother. So, when Jane saw him waiting of her, she was taken aback.

"Where were you?" His tone made her head pound, it was accusatory, probing.

"Maura's house. My friend?" Jane said slowly, as if testing the words as they came out of her mouth. Jane barely believed it herself.

"Your friend, huh? You know I don't like being lied to, Jane." his voice dropped, as did her stomach.

_Shit, Shit. Fuck. Shit. He knows, doesn't he?_

**_Jesus, don't psych out. Calm down._**

Jane took a deep, silent breath and spoke as evenly as she could.

"Yeah, I know."

"You sure have been spending an awful lotta time with this girl, Jane. I haven't even met her." He said lowly and Jane rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

"I mean, you can meet her if you want." she tested.

"I want to." Jane nodded slowly while Frank stood up, patted Jane's shoulder and walked up the stairs. Once she heard his bedroom door close she released a huff of relief and rubbed her forehead, which had collected a modicum of cold sweat, she hoped her Father didn't notice her nervousness.

"Shit."

**_I know._**

Jane collected herself and walked slowly up the stairs and into her room. Once she closed the door behind her she changed into a pair of spiderman boxers and and white tee and crawled into bed. She flipped open her laptop and began reading the E3 page and looking up game walkthroughs on Youtube. Taking note off techniques. Once she had satisfactorily eased her mind, she exited out of the windows and set her laptop on her nightstand, only to pick up her cellphone. Teenagers. She clicked the home button her phone to see if she had any missed messages and she noticed that she did. Maura. She allowed a small smile to slip onto her face and read the message.

Maura: So, what's the verdict?

Jane: Nothing too bad, Dad was waiting up for me. He wasn't too pleased with me.

Maura: I'm so sorry, Jane.

Jane: Not your fault. i should've remembered to contact my parents.

Jane saw the three dots indicating that Maura was writing out a message, but it had been awhile.

Jane: Maura?

…

Jane: Maur?

...

Shaking her head Jane laughed softly.

_She probably fell asleep_

**_Which you should be doing now._**

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane went through her morning run of the mill routine. She headed downstairs and saw that Frankie was already waiting for her.

"Whatd'ya do to piss Ma and Pop off?" he questioned as Jane got a water bottle from the fridge and put it in her backpack. She grabbed her keys from the key ring and headed for the door.

"What're you talking about?" she asked

"Well, Pop was extra grumpy this mornin' before he headed to work and i haven't even seen Ma. So, what did you do? I know you came in kinda late last night."

"That was it," Jane said as she started up her car and headed out of the driveway. "i came in a little late. Pop was pissed. End of story." Jane said and Frankie just looked at her for a few moments more before turning his head to look out the window. She just wanted to pick up Frost and Korsak without getting the third degree from her little brother.

"Listen, Jane," he started and Jane internally groaned.

_So not in the mood for this._

"I know something's eating at you, okay? And if you ever wanna talk about it I'm here. I know I'm just your silly kid brother, but I'm hear. I swear. Okay?" He was looking at her again now. Jane fought the will to cry. She stopped at a red light and looked over to Frankie who had so much sincerity in his eyes she nearly choked up. Of course, she didn't, she's Jane Rizzoli.

"Thank you." she whispered and he nodded, a smile forming on his face. The light turned green.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane walked into her AP Bio case to see Maura seated over at their lab station. She smiled brightly and Maura looked up and returned it. Jane set her backpack on the ground and took out her book and notebook. She looked up to see Maura looking at her with an easy smile on her face.

"Uh, is there something on my face." Jane said and looked at her reflection on her phone while Maura smiled and shook her head.

"You elevate my dopamine levels without even trying." she said lightly and Jane had to stop herself from fainting right then and there.

"I'm sorry about last night." Jane looked up at her and shook her head.

"I told you, Maur. Not your fault. Besides, you'll always be worth being a little late for. It's not a big deal." Apparently the bell had rung because their teacher was handing back quizzes that they had taken earlier that week. Jane got hers back and no surprise; she got a 98%. But, of course Maura got 100. Jane put the quiz in her folder without even looking at it, knowing that she did well and look back to Maura who had blush creeping up her neck. She smiled at Jane and turned to the teacher. The teacher had assigned them a new lab to do which included dissection. They were going to study the anatomy of a frog and compare it to that of the human anatomy. The teacher was up in the front giving them instructions but of course, Maura didn't really need them. She expertly pulled the skin up with the tweezers and made horizontal cuts with the scalpel.

"Uh, Maura?" Jane whispered loudly. Maura looked over to Jane with an eyebrow quirked up.

"Yes, Jane?" she said setting down the equipment and Jane just gawked.

"How do you know how to dissect a frog?" Jane questioned. Maura simply laughed and gave a one shouldered shrug.

"YouTube." she said simply and picked back up the scalpel to make the second incision. Jane just laughed softly and looked down at the frog. She tried to keep her excitement down to a reasonable level.

"Whoa."

"Whoa, what?" Maura asked as she inspected the organs of the frog.

"This. Is. So. COOL!" Jane said as she went to stand closer next to Maura so that she could get a better look. She put on her gloves and went to poke around. That is until Maura pushed her hand away before she could get the chance.

"Jane! You're disrupting the organs, take a look as a whole first. What do you see that's different?"

"Well, everything is tiny. Like really tiny. Our organs are definitely not that tiny." Jane said and nodded her head in finality. Maura just shook her head, knowing that Jane could easily spot the differences since she head her head bowed over her lab sheet. Maura began to work on her own lab sheet and poke around in the amphibien occasionally. Jane would sometimes glance over at her to compare answers and then nod contently when she saw that they had the same responses. They continued like this until the bell rang and the teacher announced that they had book work to to finish for homework the next day.

"We still on for tomorrow?" Jane said as she stood up and pout her back on, watching Maura do the same and headed out t Maura's next class.

"Of course." Maura said and stopped in front of her class.

"Cool. Alright then, uh, i'll see you at lunch, yeah?" Jane said and Maura smiled and nodded as she headed into class and Jane nodded and turned around only to bump into something solid and fell to the ground.

"Jesus, watch where you're going, Nerd." a deep voice grumbled and Jane looked up blurred eyed because her glasses had gotten knocked off of her face.

"I'm sorry.." Jane managed to choke out and began to look around for her glasses.

"Ah shit, Nerdzzoli, that you? You need these?" the guy dangled the glasses above her head and Jane nodded and mumbled out:

"Give them back, please."

"Well since you asked so nicely. I'm feeling a little generous." He put her glasses on the ground and kicked them over across the hall laughing tossing a "see you around, nerd." over his shoulder and headed into the class that Maura was in. Jane sighed and picked herself up and went across the hall to pick up her glasses. She placed them on and sighed, heading to her next class.

_I shouldn't have to put up with this._

_I am a good fucking person._

_Aren't I a good fucking person?_

**_You are a good fucking person._**

_Thank you._

**_Any time. _**

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane really was going to try to head to her lunch and eat like a normal person. However, not surprisingly, she found herself going onto the first floor and heading into the piano labs. She sat down at a keyboard and laid her head down. Breathing deeply she shook her head back and forth.

"I can't do this." she whispered and sat her head up while slouching in her chair, letting her fingers graze over the keys. She felt her phone vibrating and took it out just to turn it off and sigh. Now was not the time. Sometimes you just need to wallow. She let her fingers play what they needed to play, she followed their lead and acted merely as a vessel for the emotions that needed to come out. Whatever she needed in that moment she hoped she could find. She wanted answers, she wanted comfort, she wanted sound.

_Got shackles on, my words are tied_  
_Fear can make you compromise_  
_With the lights turned up, it's hard to hide_  
_Sometimes I wanna disappear_

The song that was normally a little upbeat and fun, Jane played it differently. It was mellow, it was searching. Her fingers danced across the keys like a a cloud, it was light. She was looking for answers in a song that seemed to feel how she felt. She was playing a song that knew what it was like to want to disappear sometimes. She needed to know that it was okay. That it was okay to feel the way she felt, that it was okay to like the things she liked. That it was okay to want to go away for awhile., whether that be through music, or daydreaming, or physically going away. She wanted to know that the way she felt was validated. She wanted to be validated. And she didn't want to be quiet. She didn't want to bite her tongue.

_Raise up to your ability_  
_You never knew what I could find_  
_What would come when we realize_  
_I don't want to compromise_

Jane didn't want to compromise her feelings for anyone else anymore. she didn't want to have to lie to her parents, she didn't want to keep her mouth closed when she was being bullied. She did not want to be ridiculed or shunned for the way that she was. She was fine just the way she was. She just had to find out how to do it. She had to find our how to be brave. And she would. She had to.

She turned her phone back on and was greeted with a few text messages. she, of course, opened the one from Maura first.

**Maura: Are you okay?**

**Jane: Yeah. Yeah, I am.**

And she was. At least, in that moment, when her blood was still wired with chords and melodies, she was okay.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Did this update feel longer than usual? It felt like it. Parents found out I went to a party and brought my sister (who decided to drink) and I of course being the older sibling got in trouble. Anyway they took my laptop but now I have it back.

* * *

Jane was bopping her head along to the song that was coming through her iHome. Hans Zimmer's 'My Enemy' from the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. All it was doing was further adding to her mood.

_I swear I feel like Peter Parker with Maura being Mary Jane._

_I mean, it's just the movies._

_Why should it matter what I wear._

**_'Cuz Maura is going, stupid._**

_Right._

Jane sighed and opted to plop on her bed rather than stand, still looking intensely at her open closet. She heard a knock on her door and answered "come in" after a couple moments, leaning over to her dock to turn the volume down. Frankie peeked his head through the door first before fully stepping inside.

"So, can I come?" Frankie said and Jane immediately rolled her eyes. Why do younger siblings always feel the need to tag along? Why can't they just stay in their little bubble of nothing.

"No, Frankie. Now go away." Jane said not turning from her position.

"C'mon, Janie, please?" Frankie pleaded. Jane remained silent, figuring that would be enough of an answer, and continued with the stare off between her and her closet.

"Fine." Frankie grumbled and turned from the doorway. Jane barely got a breath in before she was bothered again.

"Jane."

"Jane."

"JANE!"

"WHAT?" Jane yelled and whipped around from her closet to face her younger brother, placing one hand on her hip.

"Can I come?" Tommy asked rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet. Jane sighed and returned to glaring at her closet. Younger siblings. Honestly.

"No." Jane huffed out.

"Aw, c'mon. Why not?" He whined and Jane put to fingers to her temple and inhaled deeply.

"Because you can't. If Frankie can't come, you sure as hell can't." She said and exhaled the breath she was holding. "Now leave me alone and go do whatever it is 12 year olds do." She said and Tommy turned from the doorway and grumbled all the way back to his room. She let out a sigh of relief when she heard his bedroom door close. Back to the real problem at hand. Her closet.

It's kind of funny when you think about it. Having troubles with the closet. Heh.

Jane took off her glasses and wiped them on her tank, as if it would help help her see new clothes, or make new ones magically appear.

"Ugh." Jane groaned and ran her fingers through her unruly curls, thoroughly aggravated.

"You know what?" Jane said while throwing her hands up in defeat and heading over to her dresser. She put on some simple black skinny jeans, a white v neck and her favorite pair of marvel vans. "This is gonna have to be good enough." After Jane finished getting dressed she heard her music pause to alert her that she had gotten a message.

Maura: Outside.

Jane smiled and grabbed her keys and wallet and glided down the stairs.

"Bye, Ma!" Jane exclaimed to her mother who was washing dishes at the kitchen sink. Her mom threw a "bye" over her shoulder as Jane opened the front door.

"Wait a second, Jane." She heard a gruff voice say. She turned and faced the living room where she heard it come from. Closing the door slowly, but not all the way, and walking towards the person who she knew the voice belonged to.

"Uh," Jane started, slightly startled, and began to fidget, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and back again. "Yeah, Pop?" She asked and rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

"Where are you going?" He asked simply and monotonously, not betraying a single emotion.

"Out." Jane answered simply, returning the tone he used with her.

"Out, where?" He prodded, Jane could hear his temper easing into his voice. Jane rolled her shoulders and leaned gently on the wall behind her.

"The movies. With Frost and Korsak." She answered slowly.

"Just frost and Korsak? Who is that outside in that nice car, then?" He said looking at Jane with stony eyes. Jane internally cursed.

"Maybe Frost or Korsak got a new car." Jane answered shrugging her shoulders. Her Father raised an eyebrow in warning and she relented.

"That just Maura. She's coming too." Jane said, trying her damnedest to keep her voice even and aloof. Her father looked her straight in the eyes before looking back at the television. Jane hadn't noticed that he was watching an old red sox game.

"Okay then." There was a pregnant pause, and Jane could feel her anxiety building up. "See you later. Don't be too late." He finished and turned the volume up on the tv. Jane took that as a cue and nodded while turning on her heel, leaving the room slightly dazed.

Jane jogged out of the front door to Maura's waiting car and hopped in the passenger seat, Breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Maur." Jane smiled as she clicked her seatbelt in place and Maura quickly threw a quick smile her way as she backed out of the driveway.

"Are you okay?" Maura asked, concerned coating her voice and washing over her face. "You seem a bit pallid." She finished doing a once over on Jane while they were stopped at a red light.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry." Jane said with a flick of her wrist in dismissal and looked out of the car window.

They drove in a comfortable silence all the way to the movie theater, which they quickly found out, was packed. Welcome to the city.

Jane walked over to Maura's side of the door and opened it for her. Once Maura stepped out of the car she slipped her arm through Jane's and they began to walk leisurely towards the entrance. Once they were inside they walked up to the line. Jane sighing in relief to see it wasn't that long.

"Two for X-Men, please." Jane said and took out her debit card.

"Students?" The cashier asked and Jane nodded her head.

"Yeah, one sec." Jane handed over her school ID and the guy rung her up.

"Enjoy the movie." The attendant said.

"You too."

_'You too' shit, I always do that._

**_Dork_.**

"You didn't have to do that, Jane."  
Maura said while Jane scanned the crowd looking for Frost and Korsak.

"Do what?" She asked casting a questioning glance towards Maura, knowing full well what she was talking about.

"Pay for me."

"Don't worry about it, I wanted to." Jane smiled and continued, "You hungry?" Jane said pointing over to the concessions and she could swear she saw Maura almost go into cardiac arrest thinking about the calories. Maura began hurriedly talking about all of the things in junk food. Something about the nutritional deficiencies.

"I'm sorry." Maura said looking down bashfully.

"Stop apologizing for being crazy smart. Although, a simple 'no' would have sufficed." Jane said and smiled lazily while Maura giggled softly.

"Oh, Jane, there they are!" Maura exclaimed and pulled Jane along to Frost and Korsak who were sitting on a bench outside a theater.

"Took you guys long enough." Korsak said and punched Jane lightly in the arm. Jane punched him back with her free arm and they began to laugh lightly. Frost was silent and seemed to be looking at Maura and Jane's intertwined arms. Jane looked at him and quieted an eyebrow and Korsak who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Frost?" Jane said looking at him.

"Huh?" He said shaking his head slightly.

"You ready to get blown away?" Jane said a small smile playing on her lips, her excitement painted all over her features. Korsak and Maura had already started to walk in and were talking amongst themselves while they looked for seats. Frost smiled back at Jane tightly.

"Already am."

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

"Oh. My. god." Jane, Korsak and frost said at the same time as the end credits rolled on the screen. Maura, sitting in between Jane and Korsak, shook her head at the three of them and laughed gently.

"It was quite an enjoyable movie." she said an three heads looked incredulously towards her.

"Enjoyable?" Korsak questioned, feeling as though the comment personally offended him.

"Just enjoyable?" Jane asked after, looking as though Maura had steeped on her dog. Frost just shook his head in disbelief and scoffed lightly.

"I mean, amazing...?" Maura tested, looking at the three faces and watched as people still sat and watched the credits finish, the rest of the theater already filtering out.

"No, Maur, You don't get to do that. You don't get to say 'enjoyable' to one of the best movies out right now. Nope. Can't take that. You are now shunned." Jane said in finality with a small smirk playing on her lips ad Korsak laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, Maura. this is pretty much a crime against this fine country. it's treason. We simply can't allow it." Korsak finished and Jane laughed and while Maura looked genuinely concerned. Jane was quick to fix the situation.

"Oh, We're only kidding. Sorry, Maura. You're totally not shunned." Jane rushed out and Maura visibly relaxed

"Speak for yourself." Frost said with a tense smile on his face, trying to make it come off jokingly. Jane hit her shoulder with his and they all stood up.

"Need a ride, Jane?" frost asked while they exited the theater, all of them, sans Maura, still on an adrenaline high from the action.

"I can take her, Barry. it's fine." Maura interjected and he tensed.

"You sure?"

"It's no problem, I assure you." Maura finished with a smile and Jane threw a worried glance to Frost, knowing something was up.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you in a minute, okay, Maur?" Jane said to Maura who nodded and walked with Korsak out of the entrance doors. Jane pulled frost away into a hallway and glowered.

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with you, man? You've been acting really shitty lately and I'm tired of it. Just tell me what your deal is."

"Me? i've been acting shitty? Oh, Jane, that's rich." Frost said and began to walk away but Jane stepped in front of him before he could get any farther.

"Seriously. What's your deal, Frost?" Jane urged, and Frost just groaned.

"Why don't you go ask your girlfriend what's wrong. You spend all your spare time with her now anyway. No time for your friends anymore, Jane? Well whatever. I'm over it." Frost said and brushed past Jane, who stood stock still. She finally gained use of her limbs and began to walked briskly to Frost.

"You serious? We aren't dating. We're just friends. I swear." Jane forced out even though with every fiber of her being, she wished they were more. Frost just scoffed and walked past Maura, who had opted to wait by the entrance for Jane, and out into the parking lot looking for Korsak. Maura looked over to jane with concern inching onto her face and Jane just shook her head as she walked up to her.

"You ready?" she managed to get out and Maura nodded her head slowly and walked through the door Jane was holding open for her.

They walked to Maura's car, Jane with her hands stuffed in her jean pockets. When they reached the car Maura turned to face Jane who stopped abruptly in front of her.

"Jane?" Maura asked softly and Jane raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yeah?"

"I enjoyed tonight. Thank you for letting me tag along." Jane smiled goofily at her and scuffed her feet on the pavement.

"I like you, Maura. And, you're more than just a tag along, okay?" Jane asked seriously and Maura gently nodded her yea. Jane beamed at her and opened the door for her and waited for her to get in before closing the door and heading the the passenger door.

"Jane?" Maura asked looking over at Jane before she started the car. Jane made a small noise in question.

"Want to just stay over tonight?"

_Dear God._

_You won't be able to handle this._

_Abort Mission_

_ABORT._

"Sure." Jane smiled before taking out her phone before continuing "Let me text my mom."

_Well, it was good know you, myself, me. it was just good fucking living while it lasted._

Maura smiled excitedly back and quickly leaned over the console to give Jane a quick kiss on the cheek before starting the car.

_Scratch that, I'm already dead. _


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry about the wait. I appreciate the continued support and hope you guys are enjoying.

* * *

"Wait," Maura said gasping for air, laughing so hard he could barely get a sentence out. "He said what?"

"Okay okay okay," Jane said after a large inhale, trying to get her laughter under control. "So I said, dude, what does hydrophobic mean? We had been going over it for like, ever, mind you. And this guy," Jane stops to catch a breathe from laughing. "This guy tells me, A fear of utility bills? I kid you not, Maur. I lost it." Jane and Maura were laughing side by side on their backs and laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh my gosh. A fear of utility bills. I can't believe it." Maura said as their laughter died down.

"Well believe it. Because now every time I hear hydrophobic I think of the utility bill."

"I mean, it's obviously a molecule that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water." Maura finished, shaking her head. Jane propped herself on her elbow and looked over at Maura.

"Obviously." She smirked and Maura rolled her eyes at the sarcasm lacing her voice. Jane gasped in amusement.

"Maura, what's your middle name?" Jane stopped and waited.

"Random. It's Dorothea." Maura answered and a light blush spilled upon her cheeks.

"Dorothea? Okay. Maura Dorothea Isles, did you just roll your eyes at me? Also, again, Dorothea?" Jane breathed out slowly, evident that she was trying to keep herself from laughing.

"Yes, Jane, Dorothea. Don't laugh! What's your middle name?"

"Not telling." Jane said and smirked and Maura's face was disgusted.

"Jane, that's not fair! Tell me."

"No."

"Jane."

Jane shook her head furiously and Maura threw a deadly glare her way. Jane shrunk under her glare, she wasn't about to say no this time.

"Okay okay! Sheesh. Don't look at me like that. It's Clementine."

"So you laughed at mine, yet your middle name is Clementine? Cute."

"Yeah yeah laugh it up, Dorothea." Maura glared at Jane, who laughed and shook her head. Jane heard a small yawn and looked over Maura.

"Tired?" Jane asked.

"Yeah." she said closing her eyes. Maura heard shuffling around and cracked open an eye.

"What are you doing?" Maura questioned when she saw Jane get up.

"Uh, gonna let you sleep? Do you have and extra blanket or something?" Jane asked looking around the room.

"Where are you planning to sleep?" Maura questioned Jane again.

"I, uh," she glanced around the room and rubbed the back of her neck. Jane was always at Maura's house but she'd never slept over. "The floor..?" She tested and Maura looked absolutely flabbergasted.

"Jane, you do not have to sleep on the floor. There is plenty of room in my bed. Unless you want the guest bedroom?"

"No, I'll stay in here then." Jane said a little nervously while Maura smiled at that.

"Do you need pajamas?"

"That would be nice, yeah." Maura got up and started sifting through her drawer and walked to Jane with fabric in hand.

"Seriously, Maura? Silk?"

"What?" Maura asked looking down at the pajamas and Jane shook her head and took the clothes from her.

"Anything you need is in the drawer on the left under the sink." Jane nodded and headed across the hall. After closing the door softly she hurriedly changed into the pajamas and shook her head.

_Honestly, Silk?_

She reached for the drawer Maura told her about and found new toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Brushing her teeth thoroughly and quickly, she walked back across the hall and knocked silently on the cracked door.

"You can come in, Jane."

_Okay, Maura in silk shorts? New favorite thing._

_**Dude.**_

_Yeah, I know._

_**No, as in dude, I think she's saying something.**_

"Jane?"

"Sorry what?" Jane asked nervously and rubbed the back of her neck.

Maura shook her head and smiled gently. She yawned largely, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Sorry, I asked what side of the bed do you sleep on?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. You choose and I'll follow." Maura nodded and slipped into the right side of the bed, where she was already standing. Jane walked cautiously to the left side and slipped under the comforter.

Maura switched off the lamp that was illuminating the room. Covered in darkness and silence, Jane slowly began to feel her body relax while in contrast her mind began to race.

It continued like that for about 20 minutes and Jane still hadn't fallen asleep.

She felt shuffling and she an arm slung over her waist.

Immediately stiffening, Jane looked down at Maura who looked fast asleep.

"Uh, Maur?"

"Maura?" And after that she heard Maura let out a small sigh.

"Jane. Thinking too loud. Sleep." Maura said sleepily and then resettled her head in the crook of Jane's neck. Immediately falling back asleep.

Jane smiled softly, yawning, she began to feel her body relax and so did her mind.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

Jane woke up to light streaming through Maura's gigantic windows.

She looked over to the alarm clock on her side of the bed.

9:37 a.m.

Aka ridiculously too early to be up on a Saturday.

"Good morning." Jane look down to see her arms still comfortably wrapped around Maura, whose eyes were still closed and was breathing easily and slowly into the crook of her neck.

Jane smiled lazily. Drinking in the sight of Maura early in the morning. How could someone manage to be so beautiful this early in the morning after they just woke up? The world may never know.

"Morning to you too. How long have you been up?" Jane rasped, her voice deeper than usual from not being used.

"When you awoke." she stated simply, eyes still closed and breathing still slow and languid. As if she might succumb to sleep again at any moment.

"Sorry I woke you." Jane said while absentmindedly running her fingers through Maura's locks.

"Mmm. Don't be." Maura humming contently. They sat like that for a short while, enjoying each other's presence.

"Are you doing anything today?" Jane asked quietly, careful not to disturb the comfortable silence.

"Yes, I am. I'm spending the day with you." Maura said matter of factly. Jane smiled at that.

"Oh, are you?" Jane smirked at that.

"Yes, what are we doing today?" Maura said nestling further into Jane's embrace. "Even though I kind of don't want to leave this bed." she finished and sighed deeply.

"I understand the feeling. I have an idea of what we can do today."

"Oh?" Maura said smiling, turning her head slightly so that she could look Jane in the eyes. "Please, do enlighten me."

"Nope, it's a surprise."

"I'm not too fond of surprises." Maura tested. Jane just chuckled,knowing she was just testing to see what she could get out of her.

"Right. Well I think you'll like this one." Jane said with finality, determined not to crack under Maura's will.

Both girls were smiling foolishly at one another until the door cracked open and Maura's father peeked his head in.

"Girls?" He looked to see them wrapped into each other and shook his head slightly, excited to gossip to his wife about the development of this relationship.

"Uh," was all Jane could get out before Maura jumped in.

"Yes, Daddy?" she asked innocently.

He smirked at her.

"I've been knocking on your door for about 5 minutes. Breakfast is ready. Care to join us?" He stated. Jane blushed and Maura's eyes went wide.

"Be down in a moment." Desmond nodded and shut the door heading down the stairs to join his wife.

"Did you wake the girls?" Constance asked while sipping a cup of tea.

"Oh darling," he started, an excited grin spilling onto his face. "You will not believe what I just witnessed." He said while sitting down next to her and began to gush to Constance's eager ears.

Breakfast wasn't an often occurrence in the Isles' household. Mainly because her parents were always busy with work or something or another.

However, when her parents were in town, breakfast was certainly never this nerve wracking. You would swear that the girls were caught doing something other than early morning cuddling.

"So," Desmond Isles started, trying his hardest to keep a smirk off of his face. The girls both holding their breath, assuming the worst. "How was the movie?" he finished, relishing in the relief he saw in the urls as they let out a breath.

"Enjoyable." Maura said a sip of orange juice, shooting a glance at Jane whose mouth was agape.

"Oh, I assure you it was more than just _enjoyable_. It was amazing. I could have done with more Ellen Page, but Jennifer Lawrence made up for it." Jane said while going over a quick recap in her mind. Constance gave an amused smile and Maura looked at her like she was the eighth wonder of the world. There's something about watching someone getting so excited over someone they like.

"I agree," Desmond started "They did go in a completely different direction than I was expecting."

"You saw?" Jane asked in surprise.

"Of course, I may be European, but I do enjoy things, you know." He stated smiling at her. "Especially superheroes. Tell me, Jane, Marvel or DC?" And like that breakfast was forgotten between the two and they started a heated discussion. Constance and Maura eyed them amusedly.

"Maura." Maura turned her head to her Mother who was working on another cup of tea. Constance tilted her head slightly in Jane's direction, who was still having an animated discussion with her Father. She smiled gently and turned her head back to her Mother. She watched her mouth "Have you told her?" to which she simply shook her head and picked around her plate. Constance tsked lightly and smiled at her daughter.

"Do you guys have any plans for today?" Maura turned her attention back to Jane and her Father as the conversation now included her.

"Well, yes, we do. Jane however simply refuses to tell me where we're going." She stated with a small pout forming on her face.

Jane looked up, whose mouth was full with the food she had forgotten about. She smiled a chipmunk smile at Maura before swallowing.

"I told you, Maur. It's a surprise. You'll like it."

"Well in that regard," Constance said and stood up. "We'll let you children get a start on your day. Have fun you two." Her husband stood up behind her and followed her out of the room, tossing a quick "see you later" over his shoulders to the girls.

"You ready?" Maura nodded and Jane smiled.

RIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLESRIZZLES

"Jane just tell me." Maura asked for the upteenth time, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Nope," Jane answered popping the 'p'. "No matter how many times you ask me I'm not telling, Maur." She looked over from the steering wheel to see Maura with the most adorable pout.

"Oh, c'mon Maur. We're nearly there. Give it 10 minutes." Jane said as they continued to drive around Boston. Maura looked out the window and felt her excitement well up. She began to recognize the route they were taking.

"Oh my Goodness."

"What?" Jane asked and Maura looked over to her eyes wide and shining. "Oh c'mon Maura. Really?" Maura bit down on her lip and nodded her head furiously with excitement, having figured out where they're going. Jane sighed feigning annoyance.

"The New England Aquarium?!" Maura asked, her excitement welling over.

"Yes, Maura." Jane answered laughing and shaking her head. "The aquarium."

Maura was basically jumping up and down in her seat as they drew closer to the aquarium. When they finally pulled up Jane looked over to Maura who had her excitement written all over her face. Jane began circling the parking lot looking for a spot finding one relatively close to the entrance.

Before Jane had the chance to unbuckled her seatbelt, Maura was already on her side of the car opening up the door.

"This is so amazing, Jane." Maura stated as Jane stepped out of the car door and slipped her arm through Maura's. "Thank you for this. Really. I haven't been to the aquarium in ages." Jane smiled and shook her head.

"Anything for you, Maur." Jane said and smiled cheekily at Maura who placed a small peck on the corner of Jane's mouth.

"I, you, walk. Aquarium? Yes?" Jane said pointed towards the entrance and Maura chuckled at Jane's nervousness.

"Yes! Can we see the Eretmochelys Imbricata first?" Maura asked as they began walking towards the door.

"The Ere what now?"

"Eretmochelys Imbricata. The hawksbill sea turtle." Maura asked and Jane nodded.

"Of course, first stop, Franklin the turtles house."


	8. Galileo

A/N: This chapter is heavily inspired by the song Galileo by Josh Groban, especially in the observatory scene. I recommend listening to it while reading. I hope you guys enjoy.

* * *

"Jane!" Maura exclaimed, tugging on Jane's forearm excitedly leading her to the next exhibit. They had seen basically the whole aquarium. They had taken a break for lunch, which didn't last long since Maura was ready to go exploring again, which had been some hours ago.

"Jane, look." Maura rushed out softly as if not to disturb whatever was in the tank. She gave Jane a gentle nudge silently telling her to look at what was in front of her. Jane was busy taking in Maura's face and all of the emotions that painted it. If she could make her smile everyday for the rest of forever, God, she would.

"Jane." Maura whispered again, lower than the first time. It was this whisper that got her to look towards the ginormous "tank" if you could call it that. It was like its own ocean. Jane's eyes grew large and she quietly gasped as she leaned closer to the glass.

Sea turtles.

They were beautiful, breathtakingly so. Not the pretty kind, like the fish they had just seen that were bright and colorful. They were magnificent, they looked like they had time on their side, like they had even more to come. Which, of course, Jane knew they did due to their longevity.

Wise.

Thats how they looked.

Which is weird because how can a turtle look so wise?

These turtles were magnificent, they were such beautiful creatures. Swimming along without a single care in the world, like they had time.

Time.

_Its like Nemo._

_**Way to compare this to Disney**_

You know, the scene where the turtles were riding the current. It just seems, I don't know, peaceful.

_**You're looking for Squirt.**_

"Wow," Jane began, quieting her mind, her eyes flitting across the tank trying to take them all in "I mean just, wow."

"They're beautiful." Maura said in awe. The dimmed room was mostly empty, casting a cool deep blue glow over them. It was almost as if they were right along side them.

"Yeah."

Jane looked over at Maura, who had the most serene look on her face, and wondered who could create such a joy. They stayed there for about another 30 minutes watching the turtles and Jane listening whenever Maura gave out odd facts here and there about the species they saw.

"Come on," Jane started while reaching for Maura's hand. Maura automatically placed her hand in Jane's and quieted an eyebrow. "There's another part to the surprise."

"What is it?" Maura asked allowing herself to be led out of the room.

"Come on, Maura. You should know by now I'm not telling you. Plus, if I did it wouldn't be much of a surprise now would it?" Jane asked as they walked through the aquarium and out the front doors to the car where Jane opened the door for Maura who smiled appreciatively in return.

"Are you positive I can't get you to tell me?" Maura asked as she buckled her seatbelt while Jane did the same.

"Positive. But you'll love it, honest." Jane promised and Maura pouted in the passenger seat. Jane playfully rolled her eyes and put the car in gear, heading off to their next destination.

"Jaaanee."

"Mauraaaaa." Jane mimicked which caused Maura to cast a glare her way.

"We will be there soon, Maur." Jane assured, chuckling at Maura's impatience whenever she was excited to get somewhere.

Jane was driving the winding roads of Boston passing through the city as the sun began to fully set. It was difficult to see the stars because the city lights. Jane began to get excited, as she pulled into designation. She could feel Maura getting excited as well as Jane pulled into a parking spot.

The Boston University observatory.

"Jane..The observatory" Maura breathed as Jane nodded and got out of the car to walk to Maura's side of the and and open it for her. Maura pulled her jacket tightly around her and reached for Jane's hand who gave it to her without a single thought. They entered the observatory hand in hand and they were both practically buzzing with excitement.

There were a few people up observing as well, but not many. Probably due to the dropping temperatures. Jane led Maura over to the gigantic telescope who eagerly looked through the lens. Jane was content to watch Maura's excitement grow as she peered through the telescope and rattled off random facts.

"Who paints the stars at night, Jane?" Maura asked in awe as she combed through the night sky with the help of the high powered telescope. She wondered who up there, put the rainbows in the sky. She wanted to know who created all of the marvels that are in this universe. The questions floated around Jane's head, it got the better of her scientific mind.

Who did paint the stars in the sky?

Certainly, it wasn't a person though, right? But if it was, maybe it would be a famous astronomer, or maybe an artist, someone who appreciated the intricacies of the world and of the universe.

_Maybe Galileo._

Maura was way smarter than Jane, at least that's what Jane believed. So she must know that stars are just balls of gas, they might not even still be in the sky. Time moves so very slow.

Maura knew this, she was smart, she was gonna be phenomenal at whatever she wanted to do in life. Jane moved her head to gaze at Maura. She looked completely and utterly content, exploring the world with a set of brand new eyes, something Jane had always admired. The way she would get extremely excited over something she loved or enjoyed. It was refreshing, not many people let themselves be completely overcome with happiness, to the point where they can't stop talking about what gives them so much joy.

_She's so beautiful. _

Jane had a hard time comprehending what she was feeling, but oh sweet and merciful Zeus, did she feel it.

And now, under the dark blanket of the night sky, Jane was wondering who painted the stars in the sky, and began wondering if the same person could dream up someone like Maura, someone so special, so brilliant.

"Be mine." Jane breathed. Maura looked back at Jane from the telescope and smiled so warmly she knew it could melt the cool Boston air. "Not in a creepy stalker possessive boyfriend type of way. You know, just, I mean, God, just be mine? I want you to be my girlfriend. Unless you don't want to, which is totally fine! " Maura shook her head and laughed gently at Jane's mannerisms. "You should probably forget I said anything.

"Jane, I'm already yours. Since I arrived here, I have been yours. These past couple of months I have been yours." Maura said softly and threaded her fingers through Jane's, leaning over Jane to give her a soft lingering kiss before turning her attention back to the sky with a content smile on her face, tugging Jane's arm gently to share with her what she was seeing.

Jane looked down at their interlocked fingers and looked back up gladly sighing, looking to the stars wordlessly thanking the guy that put them in the sky.

* * *

Maura dropped Jane back at her home, not before pulling her in for a long awaited kiss. Maura touched her lips softly to Jane's, who eagerly returned and smiled into the kiss. They broke away and Jane smiled shyly and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"I had a lovely time, Jane." Maura said softly.

"Me too. I mean I'm glad. I'm glad you had a good time, I mean. Like me. Who also had a good time. A fantastic time really-" Jane began to ramble and Maura silenced her with another kiss. This one deeper and searching, Jane moved her hands to cup Maura's face as their lips moved in sync against each other hungrily. When they broke apart they still breathing each other's air and Maura leaned her forehead against Jane's and sighed deeply with closed eyes.

"I've been absolutely spoiled with your presence this weekend, Jane." Maura said moving from her spot and looking and looking at Jane with bright eyes.

"I have too. With yours, I mean. Right," Jane started as a smile began to make its way on her face and blush creep up her neck. "Right, I should probably uh, head in. See you in school Monday, yeah? I'll call you. I will see you in school but i will also call you. Okay, bye." Jane said as she moved to exit the car.

"Goodnight, Jane."

"Night."

Maura pulled out from the driveway and started her way down the street towards Beacon Hill. Jane smiled as she made her way up her driveway and into her house.

"Wipe that smile off your face, we need to have a talk."

Jane scoffed and walked past her brother Frankie, not showing that she was actually glad it was her little brother and not her Father.

"We don't have to do anything. I don't have to do anything." Jane stated as she worked her way through the house making sure her parents were not up.

"I saw you, Janie. I'm 14, not stupid. I know what that was." Frankie said following her throughout the house careful not to wake his parents as well. He wasn't upset with Jane for who she was with, but more because she probably didn't feel safe releasing this information to share with him.

They had made their way into Jane's room by now, Frankie closing the door and lowering his voice more.

"Look, Frankie, you don't know anything, okay? You know absolutely nothing." Jane whispered feverishly back to Frankie who threw his hands up in irritation and answered back in a rushed whispered.

"I SAW you, Jane. I saw you kiss her. And I don't care, okay? I just- I just want you to be happy, okay? I'm your brother, and I care about you. If you're happy then fantastic. I thought we had a better relationship. Why didn't you tell me?" Frankie said huffing and plopping down on the bed and waited for Jane to reply.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't just you. It was mom and Pop, and even Tommy! I can't tell them Frankie. Pop, I think he already knows, or at least has an inkling, y'know? But I can't tell him. I just can't do that. And Ma-" Jane said, tears welling up in her eyes. She rubbed fervently at them and struggled to remain strong and impasse. "I can't" she finished with a tired and broken voice, desperately wishing she had Maura beside her.

"I know, you don't have to be strong all the time you know. This is hard and it's not fair, right?" He asked and Jane nodded and titled her head up trying to stop the tears that fell anyway.

"No, it's not fair. Do you think they would love me anyway?" Jane whispered out, although it sounded more like a choked sob.

Growing up in a strict devout catholic household had never been particularly easy. Jane broke the mold that she was supposed to be in. She like video games, watching baseball, hanging out with the boys. And what drove her mother crazy to no end, she hated dresses.

_I could deal with that, the being slightly different, I could put up with Ma__'__s complaints. But this?_

_**It sucks balls, yeah?**_

_Yeah. _

"They will always love you. They're our parents, right? They have to love us no matter what. It's in the job description." Frankie joked and Jane cracked a smile at his attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yeah it is, isn't it?" Jane managed to get out and Frankie smiled.

"I'm here for you and Maura. And I won't tell anybody, honest. Whenever you're ready, even if you're never ready, I'm here." Frankie said and put his hand on Jane's shoulder and gently squeezed. Jane put her hand on top of his and squeezed back gently before letting go.

"Thank you, brother. It means a lot to me." Jane said with s much sincerity in her voice, extremely grateful that she had Frankie as a brother. It had its upsides sometimes.

"No problem. I'm always gonna be here." He said before getting up and heading to his room, throwing a smile over his shoulder as he closed the door behind him.

Jane plopped back on her bed, picking up a pillow and groaning into it. She looked up to her ceiling greatly wishing she could remove the roof and look at the stars and wonder about who put them there.


End file.
